Finally!

Finally!!

On Wednesday, after many months of wondering what Balgo would be like and three days of travelling, I finally arrived here, adding an extra person to the community, population 490. To begin with, the belief of a dry and desolate area of land in the middle of no where was completely smashed as we landed in the middle of a torrential rainstorm. Nice. No really, it was amazing; so unbelievably cool and refreshing. Then we were greeted by the Cops. And little naïve me immediately assumed they made it down to the airstrip every time a plane came in to greet the new arrivals. Um, not exactly. They came to check our bags for alcohol, and that’s when it hit home that I really was in the middle of a community with completely different rules, regulations and customs. But being here for nine months means I’ll have plenty of time getting used to them and embracing a new way of life, which I am so pumped to be doing.

Our house is just down the road from the school. It is very comfortable and well stocked with two bookshelves of books, DVDs and a kitchen full of food. Mind you, we’re getting so many dinner invites from people around the town that I doubt the stocks will be depleted any time soon! My room is the first one off the lounge room, and I wasted no time settling in. Photos, cards and mementos line my walls, with everything organized neatly into drawers. So not like at home though, and I’m wondering how long the organized clean Steph will be here to stay! However, with no-one living in our house since last December, it is incredibly filthy! The red dust has settled onto every surface and even found itself into the cupboards, so we’re bailing on the long weekend camping trip to clean. Wow, we’re all insane!

After dropping off our bags, we headed over to the school. The school, Luurnpa Catholic School can really be described as an oasis in the middle of a desert. Every building is immaculate, the grass is plentiful and nothing is broken. The classes are divided into Primary A, which is kindy and pre-primary kids, Primary B; Years 1-2, Primary C; 3-4 and Primary D; 5-7. There are also secondary classes. We were taken on a tour of the school and met the kids and teachers, and I honestly don’t think I have ever met a more welcoming bunch of people. Every child has the biggest smile on their face and always ask what your name is, where you’re from and where you are sleeping (my house is apparently on an area of Balgo referred to as Top Camp, so the kids like hearing that). The teachers do such a good job, however cannot stop the kids leaving school after lunch. Because of the intense effort that goes into simply keeping the kids at school, we finish at 2pm. But me, Henry and Alejandro run sporting games for the kids on the oval a few hours later until dark.

Anthony, a volunteer from last year who has stayed on for the remainder of this year gave us a tour of the shop and the area surrounding our house. And we met Jellybean, the town camel. Well, not really met, but saw her walking around the oval while the senior boys were playing footy. After hearing stories of her charging people at night and coming into church and freaking out, I’m going to stay well away for the time being! But in all seriousness, I cannot get over the fact that there is a town camel! No-one really knows what she is doing there, but it’s a little town thing to laugh about.

We played sport with the kids for ages. They just would not let us go, and kept trying to tell us stuff, show us something or do handstands or back flips which they seem to all be great at. However, watching a seven year old back flip off a table onto concrete does not do my stress levels any good, even if they land it perfectly every time. We raced back home to make ourselves look half decent for our meeting with the brothers, one that is set to be a weekly occurrence. However this week, only two of the four were in town; Brother Lou and Brother Marty. The others, Brother Rick and Brother Michael are in Perth and Kununurra respectively until Friday. Brother Lou cooked an amazing meal and we got to know each other, as well as Neius, a volunteer from Spain.

Heading home in the dark was tricky, especially as we were talking about the supposed haunted house next to us. Brother Marty warned us to always keep our gate closed to keep the camel out, so we kind of freaked out when we got back, scared about the haunted house only to find the gate wide open and two perfectly positioned pieces of camel poo right in front of the gate. Needless to say, I let the boys go in first, but we were pretty happy to discover that Jellybean had left. We fell asleep pretty happy with where we are, and very much looking forward to the next nine months.

Day 2 in Balgo began early. We met Anthony at the canteen to serve breakfast to the kids. Every morning, each student can have a bowl of whatever is on the menu; this morning it was either baked beans or Weetbix. Most of the kids come to school with nothing and I’m fairly sure none of them own shoes. I don’t know how they manage to run on the gravel, prickles and spinnifex without feeling it. Lunch is at 11am and they get a piece of fruit and a sandwich. This is along with all the food bribes the teachers give during the day. Amazingly, not one student at Luurnpa suffers from nut allergies, so almonds are popular. Before they go home, the kids get another sandwich and piece of fruit and all those wearing their uniforms well get an icy pole.

I spent the morning working with the Primary D kids who were a lot more focused than my Primary C kids in the afternoon. Maybe it was because of lunch, I don’t know but the C students were feral! Which in a way was good, because free time and videos were on the cards, two activities designed to keep the kids at school so I spent the afternoon playing with playdough and watching Chicken Run. I learnt that if you’re working with a kid who is obviously distracted and keeps asking you questions, bribe them with answers. Bart, in Primary D kept asking me questions about where I was from, who was in my family and which school I went to, so I told him every time he read a page in his book or completed a worksheet, he got an answer. It worked really well, but I’m dreading the day he runs out of questions!

Every child here is unique. There’s Kassius, a Primary B kid with a loose front tooth who keeps pulling his ‘Frankenstein’ face at me with his tooth sticking out of his closed mouth. He does the best Michael Jackson impersonation ever! And there’s Delton who keeps introducing me to everyone. He’s the cutest. And Lily, who invented her own counter game and keeps beating me when I play it with her. They are all so lovely, warm and welcoming and the most amazing kids ever. However, I know when they speak in their own language, point and laugh at me, they’re usually saying something rude. One of the kids called me fat yesterday, but I didn’t take it to heart because they’re all as skinny as a rake with legs like twigs!!

Today, the last day before the long weekend was very chilled. School ended today at 12.30 so all the teachers and kids had enough time to get out and be ready for the long travels to the nearest town, Halls Creek. It’s about a four hour drive on the roughest track, so it’s something I’ll definitely have to dose myself up with Kwells to complete. I worked with the best kids this morning; Primary D. I have been put with three boys, Bart, Kingston and Sampson who are the funniest and most energetic kids, but are a handful in a three. At the moment, the problem is making sure they use English all the time and stop copying off each other, but seeing as I’ve worked with them for only two days I’m expecting it to maybe take a while. But it’s all fun.

After lunch, or Mangarri, we had an hour of what is referred to as Friday Fun. I spent the time with the Primary C kids playing ‘We Will Rock You’ on the drums and tambourines and musical chairs which was a lot of fun. We then gave icy poles out to all the kids in their uniforms before heading home for a chilled weekend.

Balgo is certainly a run down community. We went on a tour only recently and it’s shocking to see the rubbish, broken homes and endless rusted cars. But this is a community built on one of the most amazing spirits I have ever encountered. The kids have such a passion for learning; well those who stay for the whole day, the parents are so funny and caring and the teachers really love the kids. It’s beautiful. I am so unbelievably happy to be here J